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lhviTnn STaTns FaTnNT Ormea.

JAMES A. HINSON, OF DES MOINES, IOIVA, ASSIGNOR TO THE HINSON ("AR COUPLER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

Y CAR-COU PLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 398,324, dated February 19, 1889.

Application led September 26, 1888. Serial No. 286,431. (No model.)

To all whomI it may concern.-

le it known that I, JAMES A. HINSON, a citizen ot' the United States, residing at Des Moines, in the county of Iolk and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and uselul Improvements in Car-Couplers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription oi' the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to ear-couplers, and more particularly to that class known as twin jaws, in which a pivoted or swinging jaw automatically interlocks with a similar jaw to etlect the coupling; and it has for its object to provide a very simple device for limiting the movement oi' the swinging jaws in order that they may always be held in the exact position to readily effect the coupling and are prevented swinging outward beyond the desired distance; and it consists o'll the part-s and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure l. is a perspective view of my improved coupler; Fig. 2, a section on the line a; ir, Fig. l; Fig. 3, a perspective view of the jaw; Fig. 4f, a view o'l the latch, and Fig. 5 a plan view of the latch and movable jaw.

S imilar letters referto similar parts throughout the several views.

A represents the draw-bar, which is cast hollow, as is usual, and adapted to be secured to a carin such manner as to permit a limited longitmlinal movement in coupling the cars, and abuis against a spring to deaden the force of the concussion. At its outer or enlarged end the draw-bar is formed with curved and Vflaring arms ll ll', the latter being merely a guard or guide arm to insure the entrance of the swinging or movable jaw on the opposite coupler between the guard-arm and movable jaw l) to effect the coupling. A hollow oil?- set or hood-shaped projection, E, is cast integral with the draw-bar at its enlarged head, forming a shoulder adapted to abut against the front beam of the car when the draw-bar is driven back. The arm IS of the draw-bar is cast with lflanges (l, havin g circular recesses d 'formed in their contiguous faces and slots l) entering said recesses from the outer edges of the ianges, for a purpose which will be described hereinafter.

Between the arms l5 B the head is hollowed out in order to receive the hook-shaped proj ection g on the branch hof the movable jaw D when the coupling is made. As clearly shown in Fig. 13, the movable jaw is formed with the branches 71l 71, the former, when the jaw is in position on the draw-bar, extending back into the hollowed-out portion of the head, and having its outer surface and end tapered oif, so that it will the more readily slip past the latch Il in coupling the cars. The branch 7b is rounded ol'l' or curves on its outer face, as shown in Fig. il at m, to form a but'- ter, and has a slot or pocket, a, formed through the same at about its center to receive a link when it is desired to couple together cars, one of which is provided with the link-and-pin coupling only. A perforation or opening, o, is i'ormed through the body of the branch 7L', at right angles to the slot n, to receive a pin to secure the link in place and complete the coupling. On the body of the jawD, back of the junction of thel branches h. L", oblong journals p are east, the jaw being cut away or reduced at this point, so that a liat surface is leftabout the journals, such reduction leaving shoulders yr at the ends of the branch h', which is curved or hollowed out so as to lit the rounded ends of the flanges O of arm B snugly. rlhe journals are cast at right angles to the curved shoulders. The journals in length are adapted to fit the recesses a, formed in the iianges O, and areinserted endwise through. the slots l), which are only suiiicient-ly wide to admit them into said recesses, and the jaw is given a short turn, so as to b rin g the journals lengthwise across the inner ends of said slots, and thus prevent their accidental displacement.

On the outer side ot' the branch 7L at its upper surface is cast a shoulder or projection7 d, which extends from said branch at an acute angle, the outer face or 'end of said projection being tapered and its face d being ilat, as

shown in Fig. b. This projection 'lits into a recess, c, jformed in. the enlarged head. immediaicly in the rear oi' arm 7i. The latch Il,

as clearly shown in Fig. l-, is provided with a projection or shoulder, s, which extends therefrom at an acute ang'le, and at its upper end a concave recess, t, is formed in the latch iinmediately above a shoulder, u. The body of the latch is formed with an enlargement, fu,

at its center, and perforations are formed in each end of said latch. The latch is inserted into the head of the draw-bar through a slot, f, formed in the same in its lower portion beneath the hood E, and is pivotally secured in said hood by a pin, e, which passes through the perforations in the walls of the hood and the upper end of the latch. The slot f is of su liicient length to permit the back-and-forth play of the latch, the end of the latter projecting through said slot a short distance, and being' connected with a rod, K, suitably mounted on the frame of the car by means of a chain, L. The latch is held forward or against the front end of the slot f by a spiral spring, M, (see Fig. 2,) which iits partly in the concave recess t, and rests on the shoulder 'a at one end and against the upper wall of the hood at the other. W hen the latch is in position, the side of its projection s fits against the enlarged head at fw, and its upper surface against the part w', while the projection d of the arm h prevents the movable jaw from being' thrown outward too far by coming in Contact with said projection u on latch H, as shown in Fig. 5, in which the jaw is shown open to its full limit and in position to be coupled.

In order to couple cars provided with my improved coupler, the movable jaws are set as shown in Figs. 2 and -that is, with the branch 7i outside of the latch F. The cars are then brought together, the branches h of the couplers on each car entering' the space between arms B and the respective bran ches 7L and pushing branch h back against the latch, whose spring permits it to recede until the hook-shaped end g of branch h passes it,

when the spring throws the latch forward, and thus locks the branch 7i in place. In order to uncouple the cars, the rod K is turned from the side of the car, so as to wind the chain L around it, and thus draw the latch back, when the movable jaw may be easily thrown out into the position shown in Fig. 5, ready to be coupled.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l.4 The combination, in a car-coupler, of the draw-bar, the hollow hood cast therewith, the enlarged head having the recess c therein, the latch pivotally suspended in said hood and having' the projection s, the spring adapted to move said latch forward, the movable jaw having the branches 71, 7L journaled to said enlarged head, and said branch h having the projection d cast integral therewith, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a car-coupler, of the draw-bar having an enlarged head provided with the recess c, the arms B B', cast integral with said head, the latch pivotally suspended with said head and having the projection s, the movable jaw having the branches h h journaled to one of said arms, and a spring for moving the latch forward, substantially as described.

3. rlhe combination, in an automatic carcoupler, of the pivoted latch having the projection extending therefrom at an acute angle, and the movable jaw having branches h h, the former having a projection, d, cast integral therewith, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES A. HINSON.

fitnessesr L. G. BANNISTER, GEO. vLENDRUM. 

